


Pollinate

by BirdOfHermes



Category: The Dresden Files - All Media Types, The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Desk Sex, Dirty Talk, Dom/sub Undertones, F/M, Femdom, Hand Jobs, Handcuffs, Hurt/Comfort, Mildly Dubious Consent, Oral Sex, Porn with Feelings, Sex Pollen, Sexual Fantasy, consent while under the influence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-03-10 18:25:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13507260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BirdOfHermes/pseuds/BirdOfHermes
Summary: The Summer Court has a very specific punishment for people who incur their wrath, but not enough to warrant lethal force: sex pollen. Unfortunately, Harry Dresden happens to have a smart mouth and a short temper. Karrin Murphy has to decide just how far she'll go to save a friend.





	1. Harry Part I

**Author's Note:**

> *FRANTICALLY HAMMERS A GIANT NEON SIGN THAT SAYS "OBJECTIONABLE CONTENT INSIDE" ACROSS THE FIC*
> 
> Alright, let's chat real quick before we begin.
> 
> Yes, I know, the sex pollen trope is so overused on this damned website that I'm actually shocked I found myself writing it. Everyone uses this trope for their smut because it's an easy excuse for writing PWP. 
> 
> But here's the thing.
> 
> This actually isn't just an excuse to write smut. Shocking, I know. I actually wanted to do an examination of the dynamic that pretty much fuels why Harry and Murphy decide not to have a physical relationship for every book we've read so far. Harry doesn't want casual sex because he cares too deeply to want nothing but physical pleasure. Murphy wants casual sex because of her past relationships falling apart and she knows if she keeps it casual, she can't fuck up and get hurt again. It's one of those "never the twain shall meet" ideas, and yet the sex pollen trope is exactly the kind of thing that I think would make them both have to reconsider things. If this happened to Harry, I think it would be something along the lines of what you're about to read. Sure, Harry has other options. He could surely have told Murphy to go get Lara Raith or asked Thomas to find him a companion. But what would that do to him? I think he'd never stop blaming himself for having that kind of affair with someone he has little to no attachment to, and I think Murphy wouldn't want that to happen to him either. I think it's leaning on the "if it's you, then it's okay" kind of thing. 
> 
> So why isn't this a part of my Landfill Heaven collection? Well, for one, it's longer than I previously predicted it would be. Secondly, it explicitly discusses dubious consent and consent while under the influence, and some people are uncomfortable with that sort of thing, so I figured I'd make this a separate entity. I assure you I tried to approach it with as much respect as possible, but if that's not your thing, hey, door's right over there. No offense meant and none taken. Plus, this gets angsty. Deeply angsty at certain points. And Landfill Heaven has its share of angst, but the subject matter here is darker and edgier, so I wanted to give it some room to be what it is.
> 
> Hopefully, you all don't burn me at the stake for writing this. I'd like to live long enough to eventually read Peace Talks. I really am trying to write something different and worth exploring here, I swear. 
> 
> Lastly, it takes place after White Night but before Small Favor, since this would put a HUGE damper on things between the Courts if it happened. And also, Kincaid and Murphy aren't exclusive, so there's no cheating involved.

_"Lift your skirt for me_  
_Lift your skirt for me_  
_Lift your skirt and let it shine_  
_I wanna solve the problems in your dress_  
_That cause such a mess [...]_  
_It's just a little white lie_  
_In your big black bed..."_  
_-"I Wanna Solve the Problems in Your Dress" by Damien Done_

Of all the annoying things Harry Dresden often asked Karrin Murphy to do, surprisingly, dog-sitting wasn't the worst one. Mouse was a good dog. Obedient, smart, loyal, and a complete natural at protecting his idiot wizard owner, as well as anyone he deemed part of his friend circle. Big dogs made her nervous, but Mouse had gone overboard trying to win her over by genuinely being adorable and not crowding her space when she dog-sat at Harry's apartment.

At present, she was reclining on Harry's couch, wrapped in a blanket, reading. Mouse snoozed on the kitchen floor. Mister sat on the top of the bookshelf, one large leg dangling out into space carelessly. She didn't have the day off, but she wasn't due to work until late, so she had the time to laze about waiting for Harry to come home.

Murphy winced. Home. Had she really just thought that to herself? Yikes. She needed to get out more.

The enormous, reinforced door groaned and a moment later, Harry Dresden appeared, scowling deeply. She realized why a second later--he was covered in a thin layer of yellow dust-like powder from head to toe.

She arched an eyebrow. "Spring cleaning?"

"I wish," Harry groused, shouldering the door shut and locking it. "Freaking Summer Court. Negotiations were fine until I apparently offended someone on my way out and they thought it'd be funny to dump this crap all over me. Sneezed so hard on the way home I think I dislocated my eyeball."

Murphy shook her head. "Nothing a shower won't cure."

Harry grunted as Mouse padded towards him, his nose already twitching curiously. "Did the fur brigade give you any trouble?"

"Not this time, no."

"Good. I'll get you up to speed after I'm out of the shower. Be right back." He disappeared into his bedroom. She heard the shower start up and returned to her book.

But it was a _while_.

Murphy checked her watch. Holy hell, he'd been in the bathroom half an hour. Something in her gut twisted slightly. Her instincts didn't like the way that sounded. Harry was the kind of guy who took five minute showers, both because of his water bill and because he was a bachelor. She set the book aside and let Mouse out to do his doggy business before poking her head around the corner. She couldn't hear anything, just the rush of the water and movement.

Biting her lip, she took a chance and knocked on the door. "You alright in there, Dresden?"

The water shut off. She waited. Heavy footsteps.

Harry opened the door, wet, shirtless, and looking grave. She took a slight step back and used all of her will power to look at his face instead of the surprisingly pleasant view of his bare, glistening chest.

"Murphy," he said quietly, and the worry flowing through her spiked intensely. "I need you to do something for me."

She arched an eyebrow. "Okay."

"There's a pair of handcuffs in the bottom drawer of my nightstand. Would you go get them for me?"

Her other eyebrow joined the first one. "Excuse me?"

Harry gave a short, curt shake of his head. "Hurry. Please."

The "please" scared the living hell out of her, so she shoved down the discomfort and retrieved the handcuffs. They were heavier than a normal pair and she could see small symbols carved into them.

"Harry, what's wrong? Talk to me."

He snapped one link onto his wrist, strode over to the radiator, and then cuffed the other one. He took a deep breath, shuddered, and sank onto his haunches, folding his enormous frame in on himself. His voice came out hoarse and rough. "I need you to go. Leave. For at least an hour."

"Harry, you're scaring me," Murphy said. "What the hell happened?"

He wouldn't look at her. "Just trust me, Murphy. I'll...I'll be alright. Take Mouse with you."

She pushed a hand through her hair, not bothering to hide her frustration. "Harry, you just handcuffed yourself to a _radiator_. And now you expect me to just leave you like this for an hour without telling me what's going on?"

"Murphy," he said, frothing anger somehow coating the entirety of that single word. "Don't argue with me. _Go_."

She took a deep breath through her nose and let it out slowly. She knew Harry better than almost anyone. He never spoke to her like that unless it was a genuine emergency. She grabbed her jacket and stomped out of his apartment, growling curse words the entire time to stave off how much he'd frightened her.

She set her watch for an hour. She forced herself to go get some lunch and ate it slowly in her car, giving Mouse a burger patty so he wouldn't whine, telling herself the stubborn fool would be fine by the time she got back. Exactly an hour later, she drove back to his apartment and let herself in. She tucked the key in her pocket and crossed her arms, glaring at the wizard still handcuffed to the radiator.

"You gonna tell me what's wrong now?"

A weak laugh escaped him. He was still hunched over against the corner, not looking at her, and the towel was still clinging to his narrow hips and legs by the grace of God. His hair had mostly dried in slightly wavy tangles obscuring the upper part of his face. His voice slithered out like he hadn't used it in ten years.

"So the denizens of the Summer Court have a sense of humor," Harry murmured. "Often times when they've been insulted, they refuse to spill blood or cast a spell on the offender. Instead, they come up with ideas to teach the person a lesson, usually related to whatever the offender said. As I was leaving, I shot my mouth off to someone. I told them to 'fuck off.' Not my best quip, but they apparently decided I should be on the receiving end of one of their favorite pranks."

He took a deep, shaky breath. "The stuff on me wasn't powder. It was pollen."

"What's so special about this pollen that you felt the need to chain yourself up and make me leave the apartment?" Murphy demanded, her tone skeptical.

"The pollen consists of the strongest aphrodisiac on the planet earth."

Murphy stopped breathing. "Oh, shit."

Harry wheezed out a laugh. "Yeah. And I was completely coated in the stuff. I figured it would wear off eventually."

Murphy swallowed hard, her face inflamed, and cleared her throat. "Did it?"

"Nope," he said tiredly. "You'd better go."

"Harry--"

"I can smell you, Murphy," he whispered. "You had a Caesar salad for lunch and a caramel rice cake for dessert, along with a diet Coke. The A/C in your car is still a little bit off, so you were sitting out there letting the sun warm your skin. I can taste the cucumber melon lotion you rubbed on your hands after you ate."

His fingers uncurled and curled again into fists and he pressed his forehead against his arms, sighing. "You need to go before I start becoming...aggressive."

"Harry, there's got to be a way to fix you. You can't stay like this all day and just hope that it wears off. What if there are side effects?"

"I'll be fine, Murph," he said, his voice suddenly taking on a dreamy quality. "Go."

She gritted her teeth. "Damn you. If this were me, you wouldn't just let me rot in my house chained up like an animal."

He chuckled. "Animal is about right. I'm not telling you to go because I don't want your help, Murphy."

Harry twisted slightly, enough that she could see one dark eye. "I'm telling you to go because if you stay here, in this apartment, with me, I'm going to start saying some very unchivalrous things to convince you to undo my cuffs so I can fuck you _absolutely silly_."

For the first time since she'd met him, Murphy froze.

Harry Dresden was a creature of habit. He ate the same food, watched the same movies, listened to the same music, drank the same coffee, and read the same books. She knew what he sounded like when he laughed, when he cried, when he was hurt, and when he was angry. Over the years, they'd shared things. Moments. Memories. Secrets. She knew there were things he hadn't told her, either to protect her or to protect himself, and she hated it, but she made peace with it.

This side of Harry she knew nothing about.

And yet...

Some selfish part of her wanted to know that side of him.

Slowly, Murphy let her arms drop to her sides. She lowered her eyelids a bit and her posture shifted from defensive to aggressive. A strange smirk stretched her lips. The words left her mouth before she could stop them.

"Oh, is that right?"

Harry gave her that predatory stare for a moment longer, and then slowly pushed to his feet from where he'd been crouching on the floor. He stood to full height, his hands crossed at the wrists, still safely within the cuffs. His lips formed the same smirk that hers had as her eyes wandered down his bare chest to below his waist, where the evidence of his condition had now become visible.

"Is that," she said, carelessly flicking a finger in the direction of his groin. "Supposed to scare me off?"

"Not you, Murphy," Harry purred. "You're not afraid of anything. Least of all me."

She nearly shuddered at his tone. She'd never heard his voice take on that masculine, self-confident tone before. It was eerily similar to Thomas Raith's flirtatious voice. Maybe it was a family trait.

"Karrin," Harry said softly, almost melodically. "Come closer."

She put one hand on her hip. "You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Very much," he replied.

Yep. Rational, normal, chivalrous Harry Dresden had left the building. The pollen had obviously needed to work its way into his system in order to take over. She wasn't dealing with her best friend any more. She was dealing with six feet, nine inches of pure, unfiltered male desire. Common sense told her that Harry's original plan was safest. She could leave again for another hour and hope that the pollen had run its course. Better yet, she could call Harry's friends or associates to ask about a cure or how to reverse its effects. Then again, it would humiliate him. Thomas would never let him live it down, provided it didn't have any lasting harmful effects.

Yet there she stood, her blue eyes roving over this new Harry she'd never seen before.

"I'll tell you what," she said. "If you're a good boy and you tell me how I can fix this, I'll come over there. Deal?"

Harry's NC-17 smile stretched wider. "Deal. Well, first, you can contact Fix and ask him if he knows how to reverse the effects of the pollen. If he's busy, you can try Thomas, since the White Court no doubt has heard of it before, since they're in the business of seduction. And third, well..."

He let his gaze drag down her body obscenely slow. "I think you know what the third option is."

Murphy took a few steps towards him. He watched each one as if he were calculating how far away she was and just how much space would be left between them. She gave him that same cool stare.

"How do I contact Fix?"

He grinned. "That'll cost you another step."

She almost smiled at that, and inched closer. Harry licked his lips, his gaze settling on her neck. "There's a rolodex in my office that should have his phone number. Tell them Harry needs his help."

"Won't they ask for something in return? Fairies don't do something for nothing."

Harry shrugged, his eyes never leaving her neck. "I got myself into this mess. I'll just have to owe them a favor."

"And if they agree to help you, what do I do then? We can't just let them into your apartment. That's dangerous."

He adopted a faux-innocent look, spreading his hands. "I guess that means you'll have to uncuff me and take me to them instead."

She sent him a wry look. "Oh, is that what I need to do? Gee, it never occurred to me. Great idea, Harry. I'll get right on that."

"Murphy," he murmured, his lids lowering over those dark eyes. "What do you taste like?"

Her breath caught. His smile widened, deepened, revealing dimples. "I've always imagined you taste sweet. Like summer peaches or strawberries. Something that would go nicely with whipped cream, perhaps. Maybe if I'm a good boy, you'll let me out of these cuffs and we can see what kind of support that kitchen table has going for it."

"Someone's overconfident."

He clucked his tongue. "Murphy, please. I wouldn't try to fuck you on the kitchen table."

She arched an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"No, of course not. I'd eat you out on it like a full course meal."

Murphy pretended that a delicious shudder didn't crawl right down her spine and spread a pool of heat through her at that mental image. She could feel her breath coming faster, her skin breaking out into goosebumps under that simmering stare. It wasn't as if she found herself coming up short on good sex. Kincaid did a hell of a job keeping her entertained.

But Harry...

Harry was brave and blindly optimistic and altruistic and complicated. When everything was going to hell, he was at his best. When no one else had her back, he did. When she doubted herself in her darkest moments, Harry was there to tell her she was too strong and too stubborn to falter. His friendship had saved her more than once, literally and figuratively.

And yet the way he looked at her now made her ache to take those last four steps and pin him to the wall and fuck his brains out.

Murphy shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and breathed out again. "I'm going to your office to call Fix. Stay here and behave yourself."

"What's going to happen if I don't?" he said with a teasing lilt as she walked into his bedroom to get the keys to his office.

She didn't rise to the bait. "I'll shoot you."

She shut the door behind her, relieved to escape temptation once again.

* * *

"Oh, dear," Fix sighed into the phone. "I'm sorry, Sergeant Murphy. The Summer Court has a lot of unscrupulous policies and the pollen has always been one I've hated. How long has it been in his system?"

She checked her watch. "About an hour and a half."

"Well, there's good news and there's bad news."

Murphy cursed. "Why is it always both with the fairfolk?"

Fix snorted. "Right? The good news is that it will actually wear off over time. The bad news is that it's designed to drive the host insane if he tries to just wait it out."

"Insane how?"

"Raving psychotic. Abusive. Violent. Self-inflicted injuries."

Murphy shut her eyes. "And there's no cure?"

"There is and there isn't. If he, uh...mates with someone soon enough, the pollen releases its hold over him."

"No pun intended," Murphy said dryly.

"Sorry. But if that's not exactly possible right now, he could, uh, manipulate the pollen into thinking that he did through..."

Fix coughed. Murphy waited patiently while he composed himself. "...assistance."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

Murphy pressed her palm to her face. "Why me? Why me, Fix?"

"I'm truly sorry, Sergeant. These are the only cures I've heard of. If you don't want harm to come to him, you have to play by the Summer Court's rules. The intention of the pollen is humiliation, as that is what the offended party feels it has been dealt by the offender. Turning a perfectly decent man into a sex addict serves precisely that purpose."

"It's karma," she groused. "Sick, twisted, ironic karma."

She sighed. "Thanks for your help."

"Please don't thank me. I wish I had better news for you, Murphy. Good luck."

"Yeah," she said. "I'm gonna need it."

* * *

 

Murphy sat in her car, staring at Harry's front door. Walking in that apartment would forever change their relationship. There was no going around it. There was no going back. Short of hiring a prostitute, which neither she nor he would forgive her for, this was the only way to save him.

And the price for that was that she'd never forgive herself.

She pressed her forehead to the steering wheel. "He'd do it for you, Murphy. You know he would."

She shut off the engine, got out, and headed inside.

Harry sat on the floor, breathing heavily now, sweat beading on his forehead, his head leaned back against the wall. His eyelids fluttered as the door opened and he sent her an exhausted smile that reminded her of her Harry, not the sex addict Harry. Perhaps his behavior changed based on how long the pollen had been in his system. It probably wasn't a good sign.

"Bad news, huh?" he croaked, reading her expression. "Give it to me straight."

Murphy locked the door back and took off her jacket, tossing it on the couch. She tugged her ponytail loose and shook out her golden hair, running her hands through it, as if the familiar gesture would make what she was about to say and do any easier.

She picked up the handcuff key that she'd left on the foyer table and walked towards him, her voice calm and even. "I spoke with Fix. There is no cure. If you wait it out, you'll go insane and try to hurt either yourself or the people around you. We only have two options."

She knelt in front of him, brushing his hair out of his eyes, her own serious and unfaltering. "Harry, I love you. I'm not going to let you suffer this way. Those bastards will burn for this and I'll help you do it as soon as you're well again."

She licked her lips, forcing herself to be steady. "But I can't make this decision for you. If our situation were reversed, you'd offer me the same choice."

She touched the side of his face. He leaned into it, a soft, hungry growl crawling out of his throat as he tilted his mouth enough to kiss her palm. "Do you want me, Harry? It doesn't have to happen this way. I can help you through this, but you have to trust me, and you have to be honest with me about what you want. We can't go back to what we were after this is over. So tell me the truth."

"I trust you," he whispered. "I trust you more than anyone I know, Karrin. I'm sorry it had to be this way."

She pressed her forehead to his. "Me too."

He sighed, a resigned, pained sound in her ears. "If it were the other way around...I wouldn't want to compromise you."

"Okay," she said softly. "I understand."

Murphy tugged him up until he was standing. She steeled herself and gripped his wrists hard so he'd look at her. "I'm going to uncuff you. You're going to follow me into your bedroom and do exactly what I tell you to do. There will be consequences if you don't. Do you understand me, Harry?"

He nodded. She undid the cuffs from the radiator, clipped them back on, and led him into the bedroom. She pulled out a sturdy chair from the corner of the room and pushed him to sit with his arms behind his back. She shut the door and lit a couple of candles, then closed the blinds. She kicked off her boots and took a deep breath before unbuttoning her dress shirt.

"Harry, I just want you to know," she whispered, sliding the shirt from her shoulders and draping it on his rumpled bed sheets. "I...I've thought about being with you this way. And I know you have too. You're going to feel guilty about what happens and so will I, but I don't want you to think I didn't have a choice. This is still my decision. Do you understand that?"

Though he couldn't tear his eyes away from the rosy skin of her neck, shoulders, and breasts, he nodded. She undid her jeans and slid them down her toned, athletic legs, kicking them aside as she walked towards him in just her simple navy bra and panties. Heart hammering in her throat, she straddled him on the chair and held his face between her hands.

"I'm going to touch you now," she murmured. "If it's too much, tell me to stop. Okay?"

"Okay," he rasped.

She kissed him. He groaned--a desperate, needy sound underscored with so much pain and longing that it constricted her heart. He leaned into it, into her, craving more, his tongue gliding across her lower lip, begging for access to her mouth. She granted it and shuddered as he kissed her harder, deeper, his chest heaving with unsteady breaths. He broke from her lips and kissed her chin, her jaw, the spot under her ear, inhaling the sun-warmed scent of her skin and the faint strawberry shampoo in her golden hair. He sucked at the column of her throat, his five o'clock shadow scraping whisker-burns along the delicate skin as he came to stop at her clavicle. He kissed the dip between her collarbones and flicked his tongue out over the sacred spot, growling with frustration as the restraints wouldn't allow him to move any lower.

"Let me out of these," he panted out. "Please. I want to touch you."

Karrin shook her head and gently pulled his head up so he would look at her. "I can't. You're too wound up. If I let you out, we won't be able to help ourselves."

He tensed and she heard the cuffs jingling as if he'd tried to pull at them. "God, Karrin, please. Feels like I'm on fire."

"I know," she said gently, pushing on his shoulders until his back was straight against the chair again. "It's okay. I'll take care of you. I promise."

She kissed the overheated, flushed skin at his jaw, moving lower, licking over his Adam's apple. Harry moaned and shifted in the chair, his narrow hips jutting upward in an attempt to relieve the pressure that had a stranglehold over his groin. Karrin shuddered as she felt the whole of him rubbing against her backside, still impressive even through the thick towel. She mirrored the way he'd kissed her clavicle, her hands gliding down over his pectorals, sweeping his nipples, her fingernails raking over his abs. He groaned her name again as her mouth passed his sternum and she finally reached for the tucked edge of the towel around his waist.

She lifted up slightly as the towel parted and couldn't resist a gasp as it revealed him to her. She had suspected for quite some time that he'd be well-endowed, considering his ridiculous height and enormous hands and feet, but it still shocked the hell out of her to have her suspicions confirmed. A wave of desire rolled through her, but with it came a surge of sympathy as she realized how painful it had to have been for him to be in this state for over an hour and a half. He was damn near touch-starved between not being in a romantic relationship since Susan and this horrid affliction. How long had it been since he'd felt anyone's hands on him but his own? She cursed herself for not wanting to move forward with him and cursed his resolve for abstaining from pursuing her. They both had perfectly valid reasons for not seeing each other, but she hated the thought of him feeling lonely and unwanted.

She lowered her hand to grip him. Harry's head leaned back and his eyes slammed shut as the long-awaited pleasure burned through his veins like acid. It looked overwhelming, equal parts joy and suffering. The sound he made sent chills through her, both good and bad. It had been a growl so primal that it reminded her of a wolf in heat. Something equally feral inside her responded to that sound and the already intense ache between her legs intensified to nearly painful proportions.

"It's okay," she said softly. "Breathe. Just breathe."

She slid her fingers down over his shaft and then back up towards the tip, letting her palm rove over the leaking head to wet her hand. His breathing went from panting to quick, excited jerks as she kept going, stroking him carefully and watching for any signs of distress. He seemed to steady after the first minute or two and leaned down towards her mouth, kissing her as she increased the pace of her small, gentle fingers on his cock. His breathing grew ragged and uneven, his long, muscular frame gyrating up into her touch, sweat beading on his chest, his abs, on his upper lip as he climbed towards his release. She concentrated on him as much as she could, but her nipples were tight enough to hurt and everything below her waist clenched with need. Her instincts snapped at her to push her own panties aside and take him inside to extinguish the roaring inferno that consumed her from head to toe. It was the sweetest torture she'd ever felt, bringing him to orgasm without feeling his calloused hands on his skin. She wanted him, wanted him more than anything she'd ever wanted in her life, and yet the thought of why it had all happened infuriated her to the core.

She could hear herself whimpering against his lips as he kissed her roughly, his upper body straining to get closer as her fingers squeezed him tightly and circled near the head of his cock as she felt him throbbing harder and harder. He broke from her lips and buried his face in her neck, biting down sharply, chanting her name in her ear as he finally reached the edge. She felt his name slip past her own lips as he jerked suddenly in the chair and came at long last. She didn't stop, stroking him again and again as jets of come bubbled forth over her fingers, her wrist, against her stomach, over his thighs. His great, enormous frame sagged immediately and he rested his sweaty forehead on her shoulder, quivering, trying to catch his breath. She wrapped her other arm around his neck and slid her fingers into his hair, stroking his scalp, helping him down from the climax.

They stayed that way for a while, until the feverish nature of his affliction seemed to pass. She slid her hand down to his neck, checking his pulse, and concluded it was steadier, possibly back to normal. She kissed his temple and rose on shaky legs, going into the bathroom and wetting a warm washcloth. She cleaned the both of them off and lifted his chin, which roused him out of his dazed state.

"How do you feel?"

He offered her a lopsided grin, though she could see the residual pain in his dark eyes. "Better."

She swept his hair back, examining him for the truth. "Okay. Do you think I can let you out yet?"

He raked his gaze down her half-naked form. "That's probably not a good idea."

Karrin snorted. "Well, you're almost back to normal, then. If this had been an hour ago, you'd have lied with a straight face so I'd let you out. You were very persistent."

"I also wasn't lying about that kitchen table thing," he said, and something wolfish crept into his expression. Despite the absurdity of it all, Karrin actually blushed at the completely unashamed lust in his gaze.

"Why does that not surprise me?" she said, turning away so he wouldn't notice the blush and padding into the kitchen. She poured a glass of cold water and brought it to him. He drank the whole thing obediently and she checked his pulse again. It was still steady and even.

"I think," she said, brushing her hair back. "Maybe you're safe enough to be around for me to put you in the bed so you can get some rest. Think you can handle that? Though, I'm warning you, try anything funny and I'll break both your arms."

Harry stayed silent for a moment, seeming to think it over. "How about a compromise?"

She pursed her lips and crossed her arms, eyeing him. "I'm listening."

"What you just did for me," he murmured. "Was probably the most selfless thing I've ever seen. I know it hurt you to have to do that and I'd like to make it up to you."

She didn't quite gulp, but she did swallow a little hard at that. "And just what did you have in mind?"

"I would like it very much if you sat on my face."

Murphy's jaw dropped. He'd said it with a completely straight face. She sputtered for a second, flustered as he smiled slowly at her reaction. "You...okay, now I'm _definitely_ not letting you out of that chair."

"I'm not asking you to uncuff me," he said. "If you do, there's no telling what the hell I'd do to you. But you can cuff me to the bed and then you know for a fact I can't try anything else."

"Other than cunnilingus?"

He nodded. "Other than cunnilingus."

She palmed her forehead. "This is insane. Harry, you don't owe me anything. I already told you that."

"Bullshit," he said frankly. "Where I come from, a man doesn't let a woman do all the work for no reward."

He softened his tone a bit. "And I know how you felt while you were taking care of me. It must have been killing you. I know, because it was killing me too, not being able to make you feel as good as I felt. I mean it. I want to thank you. Properly."

She studied him, her fingertips resting on her lips, one arm crossed beneath her breasts. It wasn't as if they hadn't already crossed the line, and he was about as level-headed as he ever was. If it was the pollen talking, it was doing a damn good impression of regular Harry Dresden. And he wasn't wrong. Her entire body was still keyed up with insane amounts of sexual frustration.

"It would make us even," she said.

Harry nodded. "That it would."

She bit her bottom lip. There was no way she could get all the way home and take care of it herself, not since she'd need to look after him for the rest of the afternoon. To hell with it.

"Fair is fair," she agreed finally, grabbing the key to the cuffs. She unsnapped him from the chair and he dutifully climbed onto the bed without qualms, calmly watching her crawl up enough to cuff him to the headboard. She made sure he was completely secured and slipped off her underwear. She settled her thighs on either side of his head, forcing herself not to consider how utterly wrong the whole scenario was.

Harry flicked his dark gaze up at her face, a smirk curling over his mouth. "I'm going to touch you now. If it's too much, tell me to stop. Okay?"

Karrin couldn't stop the blush from rolling up her neck. "You talk too much. Get to work, Dresden."

Harry chuckled softly and then moved in for the kill.

At first, Murphy's mind went black.

Then, she thought, _Oh, no, what have I just agreed to?_

Harry's touch felt supernaturally, impossibly, mind-numbingly _good_.

He'd started by simply parting his lips enough for his hot mouth to completely encompass the whole of her and then ran his tongue across her opening, pausing once to experimentally press the tip of it inside. He drew it out and sucked slowly, gently, stimulating every part of her outer walls at once, and then let go to lick his lips, tasting her. Harry purred as the flavor of her spread over his palatte, a sound of pure male satisfaction, and he returned to his good work immediately. Murphy choked on air for a few trembling seconds and frantically grabbed at the headboard to bear down as his tongue angled inside her slick channel and slowly began moving back and forth, thrusting deep, his lips caressing her with the utmost sensual patience. Hot, wild, untamed pleasure reverberated through her from head to toe. She collapsed forward and pressed her forehead against one arm, her fingers slipping into his hair helplessly as he fucked her with his mouth over and over again, pushing her closer to the edge with every sure lap of his tongue or graze of his teeth.

He paused only once more and lifted his arms enough to nudge her thighs further apart until she was flush against his mouth, and she cried out his name sharply as his tongue glided deeper, touching something precious. He groaned in reaction, his heavy body shifting underneath her with restless desire, but he maintained control and kept going. He angled his face upward, his facial hair roughly scraping her inner thighs, enhancing her pleasure, until he could reach her clit. He circled in quick, swirling movements and Murphy's body quaked in reaction as the knot of pleasure wound tighter and tighter. She panted out his name in a mantra, her toes curling, thighs clenching, but he didn't stop, didn't hesitate, not until her spine arched and she reached the shining pinnacle all at once.

"God! Harry, _yes!_ " Murphy convulsed above him, her head rolling back, spilling her hair down her back as she climaxed. The dam inside her broke and her senses vanished in the undertow of ecstasy. She heard him growling out her name as he watched her roll her hips above him, his mouth still hungrily lapping at her twitching inner walls as she floated through her orgasm. She didn't know if it lasted seconds, minutes, or days. She just knew she'd never felt that damn good in her whole damn life.

Murphy roused a while later, no telling how long, and came to find she'd at least had the courtesy to slide her legs back to either side of his chest rather than his head. She didn't remember doing it, but she at least felt grateful she hadn't smothered her best friend to death after Oscar-worthy cunnilingus. Her eyes drifted open to see him staring up at her with an expression that was somewhere between smug, enchanted, and hungry. For once, she didn't have it in her to mock him.

"So..." Murphy said hoarsely. "Yeah. Wow."

Harry grinned. "Seconded."

"I mean..." She shook her head, sweeping her sweaty blonde locks off her forehead. "Really. _Wow_."

He chuckled as she struggled to catch her breath and say anything articulate. "Don't get me wrong--this situation is still an entire Encyclopedia of not okay, but... _wow_."

He shrugged. "Like you said. Fair is fair."

"Then we're both in trouble, because if that's what the foreplay is like with you, then God help us. How the hell am I going to keep my hands off you if you're naked and cuffed to a bed for the next few hours?"

She shivered as she felt a sudden echo of the orgasm rolling through her again. "Hell, the next few minutes."

"Self control, thy name is Karrin Murphy," he teased, his brown eyes twinkling.

She swatted him on the temple lightly. "I'm serious, Harry. I'm going to have to lock you in here and skinny-dip in Lake Michigan, because that's the only shower cold enough to keep me from jumping you."

"And who says I don't want that?" Harry asked quietly, the smile fading into a thoughtful look.

She licked her lips and scooted until they were level, her hands resting on his bare chest. "Harry, I know you. If we go any further, you'll always regret it. You'll question if it was you or the pollen that made it happen. You'll doubt yourself. You'll doubt me."

"Nothing," he said firmly. "Will ever make me doubt you, Karrin. You think I'd let anyone else handcuff me to a bed? You think I'd let anyone else touch me the way you did? We went past common decency about fifteen minutes ago. I think we both need this. Want it. Maybe it is the most fucked up thing that's ever happened to either of us, but it's too late to change that now. What happened just now isn't because of some Summer Court magic fairy fuck-dust. I've been wanting to do that to you since the first time I saw you on that bridge. I'm more than willing to see this thing through. Are you?"

She stroked his cheek and shut her eyes, her voice just slightly tremoring. "What if I hurt you? I've done it before. I can't lose you, Harry. I'm not strong enough for that."

"Murphy, look at me."

She took a deep breath and opened them again. He met her gaze for just a few fearless seconds.

"I trust you."

She kissed him, too overwhelmed to put how she felt into words. Then she reached for the nightstand and undid the cuffs.

-


	2. Harry Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Murphy seal the deal.

_"You see everything_

_You see every part_

_You see all my light_

_And you love my dark_

_You dig everything of which I'm ashamed_

_There's not anything to which you can't relate_

_And you're still here..."_

_-"Everything" by Alanis Morrisette_

 

Letting a completely keyed up, eager-to-please Harry Dresden out of the handcuffs was like unlatching the padlock to a lion's cage.

The instant his arms were free, he snaked them around her and drew her up against his bare chest, trapping her between the wall of lean muscle and the hard cords of his biceps. It might have alarmed any other woman except for Karrin Murphy. She responded in kind with her own voracious hunger, seizing a handful of his dark hair and yanking him up to meet her hungry mouth. She took the kiss with unabashed aggressive pleasure, her tongue swirling circles around his, her plush lips nearly bruising as the two of them all but attacked each other.

Harry's long fingers trailed up the center of her spine and vanished into her hair, grabbing a handful and tilting her head back. He kissed the column of her throat, nipping marks into it, not hard enough for them to stick around, but enough to leave little pink spots of flushed skin behind. Karrin shuddered as his stubble grazed a ghostly line behind his kisses and didn't fight him as he came to stop at his intended target.

Harry lifted Murphy into his lap completely and held her above him, his hands hot and rough along her ribs. He parted his lips enough to take one of her breasts inside his mouth. Murphy's toes curled and her fingers found his shoulders, digging crescent moons into the skin. "Harry."

He traced the shape of her left nipple, circling it, then let the firm, sweet flesh of her breast inside the molten heat of his mouth, losing it inside over and over until he felt her trembling. He drew his calloused fingertips over her sides, tracing each rib, sliding them down over her hips and waist, the edges of her toned thighs, and then up to her back. He switched to her right breast and discovered the faint patterns of scars on her spine, not stopping until she breathed his name again.

"So fucking beautiful," he whispered hoarsely, kissing the center of her stomach, tipping her body back against his knees. He kissed a line of fire into her delicate skin from her breastbone to her navel before Murphy couldn't stand much more of his patient exploration.

She pushed him down into the bed, her hands on his shoulders, her gemstone eyes bright with challenge and wanton affection. Harry let her, stroking her thighs, staring up at her like she was Aphrodite herself. She kissed him and lowered one hand between their bodies. Harry's body arched upward as her fingers encircled his cock once more, stroking hurriedly, but not with the intent to finish this time, but to tease. He growled against her lips, bucking into it, straining against her, but she pushed down firmly with her own hips to force him to stay put.

"God, Karrin," he panted out. "You keep that up and we're not going to get very far."

She smirked down at him, haughty and glorious. "I thought you'd have more stamina, Dresden."

"Stamina's for round two, three, four, and so on."

She kissed his throat, not hiding the amused purr her voice had taken on. "I don't know; I kind of like watching you squirm."

Harry grinned wolfishly. "As long as we're on the subject..."

She jerked in surprise as he palmed her wet core, driving another gasp from her. He read her expression before carefully slipping two long fingers inside her, not stopping until his knuckles brushed her inner thighs. Murphy hissed his name between clenched teeth, her grip on his cock slackening as the pleasure assaulted her senses once more. She couldn't help pushing down against his arm, creating friction, lifting and dropping her lithe body again and again. Harry swept one hand up to cup one of her breasts as he pressed deeper, harder, curling his fingertips. Murphy bit her lower lip to stifle a scream and Harry chuckled darkly, drawing her down against his naked skin with his other arm.

"Oh, no you don't," Harry purred in her ear as he let his free hand drift southward towards the full, tightly sculpted curve of her backside. He pushed her hips down until her wet heat took more of his fingers and quickened his pace. Murphy's thighs quaked as she tried to hold herself over him, absently stroking his cock in a weak attempt to keep pace with him, but the fluttering in her belly told her it was all for naught. She lost it as he slipped her ear lobe in his mouth and sucked just barely. The climax burst free and she drowned under a tidal wave of pleasure. Harry hummed pleasantly as she rode it out, kissing her neck, her shoulder, enjoying the way his touch made her creamy skin flush.

Murphy rested her sweaty forehead against his shoulder, her voice mildly annoyed. "Low blow, Dresden."

Harry laughed. "The lowest of the low."

He punctuated the statement by drawing his fingers inside his mouth and licking them clean. The obscene gesture was somehow both an amusing and unbelievably arousing sight to her. He grinned and tugged her closer into his embrace, his dark eyes glittering. "I was right, you know. You do taste sweet."

Murphy rolled her eyes and kissed him so he wouldn't notice that she'd started blushing. "Smug is not a good color on you."

"Well, I can think of a thing or two that'll shut me up." He pitched to one side and rolled her beneath him, smiling down at her for just a moment and letting the lust fall away to appreciate the woman before him. In spite of everything that kept going wrong in his life, for just a moment, Harry knew he was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time with exactly the right woman.

He scooted down enough to be level with her and kissed her passionately, running one hand down her shoulder, her side, over her thigh to her knee. He settled his heavy frame against her finally, heated skin on heated skin, eating the needy moans that spilled from her lips as she felt him resting over her entrance at long last. Something sudden struck him and he pulled back.

"Do you trust me, Karrin?" Harry whispered, risking a Soulgaze as he stared down at her.

She cupped his face between her hands and kissed him. "Always."

He nodded, and surprised her by lifting her hips enough to flip her onto her stomach. She settled on her hands and knees, startled, but not in a bad way. Harry brushed her hair over one shoulder and molded his tall, solid frame along her back, his lips brushing her ear. "Hold still."

Her breath shallow and excited, Murphy nodded and shut her eyes. Harry lowered his mouth enough to kiss between her shoulder blades. A full-bodied moan spilled from her parted lips, followed by a deep shudder. He'd found a weak spot.

Harry brought his hands up and gently cupped her breasts as he followed the elegant curve of her spine one kiss at a time, grazing her nipples harder with his thumbs. Once he reached the small of her back, he flattened his hands against her inner thighs and pushed them further apart. She shivered as he took two playful bites out of the firm flesh of her backside and slipped his tongue inside her again, tasting her until she gripped two handfuls of the sheets beneath them and muttered his name urgently.

Harry licked his lips and rose to his knees behind her, a hand on either side of her curvy hips. He let his gaze roam over the beauty, the realness of her, before he made that last final movement to complete them both.

He pushed inside her.

Murphy's head lowered to the bed and she _moaned_.

Harry shivered deeply as he heard that wondrous sound. The whole world seemed to fall away for a few seconds. Then his senses returned one by one and all they could focus on was Karrin Murphy. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else even existed.

Murphy had fallen into short, excited gasps as soon as he'd entered her and he watched as her fingers curled the sheets into knots as she worked through the overwhelming crest of pleasure enough to say his name again.

"I know," he whispered back, his voice husky and raw. He could hardly put a word to just how damned good it felt. Nothing would suffice. All he could feel was heat and pressure and silken wetness surrounding his cock on all sides. Years of waiting, of longing for her, and the moment left him damn near speechless.

He drew out of her with exquisite slowness. Murphy's lovely, bare body settled its weight onto her knees as she gasped out her pleasure into the sheets. Harry had to remind himself to breathe because the sight of her pushed to the limit of her ever-present control was the sexiest thing he'd ever seen.

Harry steeled himself and sunk into her again, sliding his hands up enough to use her hips as a handle. He rocked her down onto his cock steadily, carefully, his dark eyes locked on her swaying, beautiful form on the bed. He stoked the pleasure one thrust at a time, savoring each groan, moan, sigh, muttered curse, that fell from her lips.

That was, until Murphy gathered her bearings.

He saw her shift her elbows to hold her shaking upper body off the mattress and then felt it when she began working her hips down onto him, taking him deeper inside her slick velvet sheath. Harry choked out a curse and something primal awoke within him at that one sensuous gesture. He pistoned into her and she rode him hard. The sound of their wet skin slapping together became the metronome of their union, driving the pace faster and faster by the minute. Sweat dripped down the runnels of his abs and onto her as he pounded into her soft flesh, a guttural growl growing inside his chest and threatening to crawl out of his throat.

Karrin gripped his wrist and dragged his hand up over her side until his hand cupped her breast. He squeezed it, kneaded it, his head lowering as he felt the telltale warning of her imminent climax. Her inner walls flexed and flickered along his cock with the sweetest pressure. He never wanted it to end, didn't want to stop, didn't want to let go, but he knew the center couldn't hold much longer.

Harry molded the hard plains of his chest and abs along her back, and slid his other hand between Murphy's thighs. He discovered her clit and stroked it in between the hard, almost punishing thrusts. Murphy cried out his name and it rang through him like a bell's toll, cajoling him to follow her over the precipice. She pushed her hips back into his pelvis wildly, her nails scraping over the mattress and its disheveled sheets; a poor attempt to cling to some semblance of control, but Harry wanted the opposite. He craved it. He hungered for it, for her, to please her in a way that only he could.

"Karrin," Harry whispered into her ear, nuzzling her damp golden hair. "Karrin...Murphy..."

An almost violent tremor flooded over her body from head to toe. He'd said her Name.

"I want you to come, Karrin," Harry murmured in a tone that was soft and dark and undeniably intimate. "Don't hold back. Come for me."

" _Harry!_ " Murphy shuddered a final time and climaxed. Harry followed her not a moment later. A world of stars and galaxies burst before their eyes as the ecstasy swept them off into oblivion. They floated on for what felt like decades, centuries, eons, conscious of nothing but the comfort of one another's skin.

Harry roused some indeterminate time later and found he had flopped onto his side to spoon Murphy. She lay still beneath his arm, her expression sated and peaceful and lovely. He dropped a kiss to her temple and she stirred, her lashes sliding back halfway. She glanced at him over her shoulder and a sly smile formed.

"Still alive, I see."

"Not for lack of trying," Harry grinned.

"Amen," she sighed wistfully, licking her lower lip. "That was...beyond definition."

He rubbed the smooth expanse of her belly and propped his chin up on her shoulder as a slow smile worked its way onto his lips. "And I can't wait to break that record."

Murphy grinned. "Who said anything about waiting? Get to work, Dresden."

"Yes ma'am."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Out of pure and genuine curiosity...
> 
> Do you think it's possible for me to write this scenario in the reverse and it not be icky? 
> 
> I found myself pondering the idea earlier today, but I do admit there are things that rustle my jimmies that don't do the same for other people. Often when people cite disliking the sex pollen trope it's because someone writes an icky dub-con theme into the work without directly addressing it. I knew writing Harry as the victim of the pollen could result in something interesting, but I wonder if I could make it work for Murphy without any of the pitfalls of the trope.
> 
> Let me know. If you think I can pull it off, that'll be an alternate chapter for this fic. If not, no harm done. Thanks anyway for taking a chance on me.


	3. Murphy Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murphy unfortunately incurs the displeasure of the Summer Court.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mmmmmmyeah, I couldn't help it. I issued a challenge to myself to see if I could believably write the pollen thing happening to Murphy instead of Harry. I tried my absolute hardest to keep the ick factor out of the story, as it's much easier for it to happen when this trope applies to women instead of the men. You be the judge.
> 
> But tread carefully, for you tread on my dreams. I am a tiny soft marshmallow, easily flattened. ._.
> 
> Proceed gently.

_"Go ahead_

_You're taking me down now_

_Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme what you don't know_

_Go ahead_

_Take me all down now_

_Get this, get this into your game_

_You got me in a heading drop_

_I never wanna come off_

_You got me with your beat of love_

_I never want come out_

_Think of me_

_I'll never break your heart_

_Think of me_

_You're always in the dark..."_

_-"Think" by Kaleida_

 

"Fucking fairies," Karrin Murphy snarled as she all but kicked the front door to her house open after unlocking it. Harry shut it behind her with a sympathetic smile and nod, keeping distance between them so he wouldn't get any of the fine yellow powder currently coating his best friend on himself.

"Have I said I'm sorry enough?" he offered.

"Not your fault," she groused, dropping her keys on the dish in the foyer. "Summer Court's not as bad as Winter, but they definitely carry about as many grudges. Maybe I should watch my mouth next time."

Harry frowned. "To be fair, the little shit shouldn't have made a short joke about you."

He paused. "That's my department."

Murphy rolled her eyes. "Put some coffee on. I'm gonna wash this mess off."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n." Murphy disappeared into her bedroom and Harry headed into the kitchen. He brewed a fresh pot and had finished his cup by the time he finally glanced at the clock and realized Murphy hadn't emerged from her shower yet. He arched an eyebrow and poked his head around the doorway. It wasn't like her to dilly-dally, especially not when they were working a case together. He debated with himself for another few minutes and then knocked on the bedroom door.

"Murph? You okay?"

He heard a noise, but it wasn't words. It sounded nearly...animalistic. Harry swallowed hard and tried again, his gut clenching with worry. "Murph, answer me. Are you alright?"

He heard her rasp his name and all thoughts of being chivalrous and respecting her privacy left him. He opened the door and stopped dead as he spotted Murphy in just a towel on her knees in front of the bed, her wet hair in a tangled mess draped around her face. He rushed over to her, searching for injuries.

"Karrin, look at me," he said firmly, noticing that she had an arm around her midsection. "What's wrong? What hurts?"

She wouldn't look at him; her eyes screwed shut, her skin flushed pink almost all over as if she'd been under scorching hot water for too long. "D-Don't know, it's...I just feel feverish...so hot in here..."

Harry slid his palm across her forehead and immediately recoiled. "Shit, you're burning up. Was it the shower?"

She shook her head. "No, got out maybe ten minutes ago. Started getting dizzy. Heart rate's up."

Harry scooped her up from the floor and laid her across the bed, turning to reach for her phone. "I'm calling Butters. Stay still."

Murphy grabbed his wrist. "Harry, wait."

Harry gritted his teeth and tried to tug his arm loose. "Murphy, I can't wait. If you're running a fever, you could die."

"It's not a fever," she said in between labored breaths. "I just...I can't describe it. I just need..."

"Need what?"

She tugged him closer to the side of the bed where she lay and he followed, not wanting her to strain herself. After a moment of what seemed like consideration, she uncurled his fingers and pressed his hand over her heart.

Harry froze, too shocked and confused to move away. He felt her pulse racing like a hummingbird's wings over the petals of a flower, very nearly a buzzing sensation beneath his palm. However, the longer she held his hand there, the more her pulse slowed and her breathing evened out. He didn't move away, unsure of it would cause her more pain.

Murphy licked her lips and sighed, her eyelids drifting closed. "Harry..."

"What is it? How do you feel now?"

Her brows flattened out and an almost dreamy expression replaced the frown that had been there a moment ago. She breathed deep and steady under his touch now, and it brought more attention to the fact that she was still only wearing a towel and nothing else. Harry pounded his stupid ape brain into submission and murmured her name again, attempting to rouse her.

Well, he did just that.

Murphy gripped his fingers enough to slide one of them inside her mouth.

Harry blushed and jerked his hand back, startled. "Murph, what the _hell_."

Her damp lashes slid back and she stared up at him, and Harry got a sinking feeling as he saw how wide her pupils had dilated, until nearly all the blue was gone. She rolled over slowly and leaned towards him on all fours, and the look on her face made the temperature in the room skyrocket into the hundreds.

"Harry," Murphy whispered, pushing onto her knees. "Come here."

The wizard cleared his throat and tried his best not to eye the door he was thinking about bolting through. "That's...probably not a good idea, Murph. I think you're sick."

She shook her head slightly and pushed her wet locks out of her face, and he could smell the soap on her skin--a light, floral scent that mixed with her hot skin to smell utterly incredible, if he was being honest. "Never been better. See for yourself."

She reached for the edge of her towel. Harry leapt forward, grabbing both of her hands so she couldn't take it off. "O-kay, I think we might have to consider that the stuff the Summer Court dumped on you wasn't just a funny ha-ha prank. Maybe it was something a little more, uh, potent."

While he was grateful not to see her naked, Harry regretted catching her in his hands because it gave her the prime opportunity to press up against him. The intoxicating scent of her skin and body wash enveloped him. He kicked his brain a few more times into concentrating. "Murphy, I think you've been drugged. I need to you to focus. Can you tell me how you feel right now?"

"Yes," Murphy whispered, staring at his lips. "I want you inside me, Harry."

"Yep," he said weakly. "This has the Summer Court written all over it."

He sighed. "Sorry about this, Murph."

Harry applied a considerable amount of force enough to press her down to the mattress and pin her wrists. He crossed them and held them down with one hand, leaning across the bed to her nightstand and rooting around until he found her backup pair of handcuffs. He tried to move quickly, as Murphy's formidable aikido skills would overpower him in a matter of seconds if he wasn't careful, but leveraging himself over her seemed to only make things worse. Murphy wrapped her legs around his waist and Harry choked on air, strangling a moan as his body reacted in a primal manner to the intimate gesture.

"Hell's bells, Murph," he croaked, tugging her arms higher along the bed. "You don't play fair."

He snapped one cuff onto her left wrist and looped it through the headboard, but he wasn't fast enough to catch her right arm before she looped it around his neck and drew him down to her mouth.

Harry damn near fainted.

The kiss was fire. It burned all through him--down his neck, across his spine, over his groin, shooting sparks out of his toes. She kissed him with complete abandon, as if nothing else mattered but her lips on his, her tongue inside his mouth. He'd hadn't felt this kind of open, naked want since Lara Raith's kiss in the caves when they had been mere seconds from death. She kissed him like she'd vanish without his touch, as if he were the only thing anchoring her to this planet or she'd float away. He felt the raw need clawing through her in that one kiss and for just a second, he wanted to fill that void in her.

Panting, Harry broke the kiss and managed to catch her forearm enough to clip the other cuff on. He scrambled off the bed and tried to catch his breath. He licked his lips and shuddered as he tasted her on them. Murphy rolled onto her side and tugged at the cuffs, trying to free herself. She sent him a pouty look that could have made Marilyn Monroe jealous.

"Harry, come back. I need you."

"I'm sorry, Murph," he said hoarsely. "I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? Hang in there."

He escaped.

-

"I wish I had better news for you," Fix said with a regretful sigh. "But I'm afraid it's exactly what you feared. It's a pollen the Summer Court developed for what they consider misdemeanors. It consists of the most powerful aphrodisiac in the world and it's sealed with unbreakable lust magic."

Harry spat out a curse. "What in the hell made them come up with something like this?"

"Sex doesn't mean as much here as it tends to in the human world," Fix said. "Here, it's a joke to them to inflict this pollen upon an enemy and enjoy their humiliation."

"I've got a few punchlines I'd like to run by them once this is all over. In the meantime, what's the cure?"

"Harry..."

"Fix," he said, iron in his tone. "What's the damned cure?"

"I'm afraid Sergeant Murphy needs to...release in order to get the pollen out of her system."

Harry's face went awash in another blush, but at least Fix couldn't see it. "So she can't, uh..."

He cleared his throat, forcing the words out. "...take care of it herself?"

"Unfortunately, no. The pollen requires external stimulation. If it makes a difference, it doesn't have to be, uh, fourth base, I'll say. Third should suffice, as long as there is a release."

"Great," Harry said, burying his burning face in one hand. "Just great. So I take it this stuff won't wear off if we just try to wait it out?"

"No. If you try to wait it out, she'll go insane. First increased aggression, then self-inflicted violence, then finally full on dementia."

"Shit," Harry muttered. "Fix, I...I can't do this to her. It's Murphy, man. It's Karrin."

"I wish there was another way, Harry. I really do. She doesn't deserve this and neither do you. When you're ready, I'll help you take down the bastards that did this to her. But for now...I'm sorry, but she needs you."

"That's what I'm afraid of. Thanks." He hung up the phone and ran a hand through his hair, pacing along the hallway of Murphy's house as he tried to think. There might have been an off chance that Bob knew something about this pollen, but he couldn't risk going all the way home if Murphy would become violent the longer the pollen stayed in her system. He couldn't risk her safety, not unless he knocked her out and he damned sure wasn't about to do that to her.

"Think, Dresden," he muttered. "What would she do if it were you?"

He paced some more. "Well, probably find out if any of my past lovers would take one for the team, as horrible as it sounds."

Harry winced. Murphy wouldn't like that very much, but he wasn't about to hire a prostitute. He hated the thought of contacting Kincaid, but at least the man knew the awful, weird ways of the supernatural world and wouldn't bat an eye at the situation. He flipped through Murphy's rolodex and made the call.

"Yes'm?" Kincaid's lazy drawl flowed over the phone, and Harry nearly gagged as he realized it was his version of a seductive tone.

"Lay off, Kincaid," the wizard grumbled. "It's Dresden. I'm on Murphy's house phone."

"Oh. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Any chance you're in Chicago?"

"Sorry, kiddo. I'm in Venezuela. Why? What's up?"

Harry cursed under his breath. "Nevermind."

He hung up before Kincaid could start in on the questioning. He could at least spare Murphy the indignity of that explanation.

He checked his watch. He hadn't heard any noise out of her in the last fifteen minutes. Harry took a deep breath and cracked the door open.

Murphy lay on her back, her arms slightly raised since she was still cuffed to the bed, her bare legs propped up. From where he stood, he couldn't see her face. It turned out he didn't need to.

"Harry," Murphy purred. "I knew you'd be back."

Harry's pulse shot up again. He reminded himself that she was his best friend and stepped inside the room, shutting the door. He took a deep breath and walked close enough to make sure she hadn't tried to hurt herself since he'd left. Thankfully, he saw no marks. "How do you feel, Murphy?"

She scooted enough so that she could see him, a coy smile curling her pink lips up at one corner. "Is this the part where I make a double entendre?"

"I'd settle for a straight answer," Harry said mildly. Maybe if he kept a casual tone, she'd cooperate. Whatever mate-or-die impulse that had struck her at first seemed to have slacked off to some degree, but he wasn't sure if this was any better.

"Have you thought about this before?" she asked, watching him from underneath her lashes.

"Thought about what?"

Her sinful smile stretched. "Handcuffing me to a bed and having your way with me?"

Harry couldn't stop the blush. "Can't say that I have, Murph."

"Liar," she whispered. "You hide it pretty well, but I know you better than you think. Ever since you saw me in that dress, you haven't been able to get me off your mind."

Harry winced. "Murph--"

She tilted her head back, flicking a bit of curly blonde hair off her forehead. Since she hadn't blow dried it, her hair fell in loose waves around her head like a golden halo. "The sad thing is that you're not alone."

He stopped breathing for a moment. Murphy shut her eyes, exhaling. "Sometimes when I'm with Kincaid, I think about you."

Harry's heart rammed into his ribs hard enough to affect his breathing. She kept going in that same mild-as-honey voice. "I think about what you would be like in bed. You're a sweet guy, Harry, but you have tells. I can see it in your eyes, you know. How much you want to give me pleasure."

She shifted in the bed until she lay flat on her back again, her knees drifting apart. The damp towel inched up her thighs, exposing toned muscle and soft skin. Harry forced himself to look away. "Oral pleasure in particular. I figured you'd be a generous lover, the kind who gets off on your partner's pleasure instead of your own because you crave that kind of thing. Making someone else feel good because you're insecure about yourself. You like to focus on your partner so you don't feel selfish."

She sighed slowly, and Harry couldn't take his eyes off her this time. "I think I'd like that. Being your focus. Letting you leave little bite marks all over my thighs. Feeling that stubble rub up against me while you licked me inside and out over and over again until I came screaming your name."

Harry shut his eyes suddenly to block out the mental image, but that careful, honeyed tone had done its job. He could think of nothing else but how damned good it would feel. She'd reached into him and plucked out an inner desire of his with almost no effort. He really didn't give Murphy enough credit sometimes. She knew him too well.

"You don't have to be ashamed of that, Harry," Murphy said quietly. "I'm not. I want this. I want you."

"Karrin," he said, swallowing past the lump in his throat. "I spoke with Fix. He said you've been infected with a pollen that's the most powerful aphrodisiac on the planet. If we don't cure you, you'll go insane and try to hurt yourself. I can't let that happen."

He took another steadying breath. "But I can't make this decision for you. If it were me, you'd do the same. You'd give me a choice. The way I see it, we only have two."

Murphy considered him for a long moment, and a bit of that sex kitten act slipped away. She slid up enough to kneel on the bed, her wrists crossed in the cuffs, and she nodded for him to continue.

"Thomas," Harry said, attempting to keep a neutral tone. "He's White Court and he's someone that I would trust to help. He wouldn't take advantage of you and he'd be discreet about the whole thing."

"And the other option?" Murphy asked.

"You know what the other option is," Harry murmured. "You've known all along. I know you're not completely clear-headed, but I'm not going to choose for you because you're my friend."

He lifted his gaze to meet hers finally. "And because I love you. And if this is the way that I prove it, fine. I'll deal with whatever happens afterward. If you tell me you never want to see me again after this, I'll do it. I'll set the entire goddamn Summer Court on fire and walk away with a smile for the rest of my short life. But until then..."

Harry steeled himself. "Tell me what you need."

Something in his words seemed to get through to her. He could see her eyes clearing and she bowed her head over her bound hands for a moment. "Harry, I...you don't know how this feels. Like my whole body's on fire and I'll explode if I don't...if we don't..."

She shook her head slightly. "I trust you, Harry. I always have. If this has to happen..."

Murphy took a deep breath and straightened enough to meet his gaze. "I want it to be you."

Harry nodded. "Okay."

Somehow, the few steps he took towards her bed felt like they were ten miles long. Her gaze felt heavy, like lead weights on his arms, shoulders, and ankles. Emotions flickered across her expression: excitement, anticipation, hunger, affection, reticence. Her breathing elevated as he calmly kicked off his shoes and socks, placing his watch on the nightstand. He pulled off his t-shirt and spoke with a soft, calming, but firm tone.

"We won't go all the way," he explained gently, unhooking the belt from his jeans. "I promise I'll take care of you, but you have to be honest with me. If something hurts, tell me to stop. If you don't want something, tell me no. The last thing I ever want to do is hurt you, so you need to tell me how I can help you."

He reached out enough to cup one side of her face in his hand. "Tell me what you want, Karrin."

She nuzzled his palm, parting her lips enough to brush them over his wrist. "Please, Harry. I need you. Now, please."

He leaned in and kissed her softly, sliding his large hand down until he reached the base of her throat. He pushed her onto the bed and she settled into the downy pillows, her blue eyes with their blown pupils completely focused on him as if nothing else existed. Harry planted his knees on the mattress and caught her ankles, marveling at just how small and delicate her feet were, though he'd seen her kick grown men unconscious with them. He rubbed his thumb against the ball of her foot and pressed a slow kiss to the top of it that made her whisper his name. He lifted her legs enough to prop them on his shoulders and kissed her in-step next, then her ankle, following a sensual path to her calf muscle, her knee. Karrin parted her legs, tremors racing through her small form as he climbed higher one inch at a time, still patient as if he had all the time in the world. Harry kept an eye on her as he moved, careful not to overstimulate her in her fragile state.

Her head rolled back onto the pillow as he reached her thigh, and he suppressed a deep shudder as the scent of her arousal reached him. He tilted his head enough to draw his tongue in a circle over the spot where her knee met her thigh and Murphy trembled, gasping. He kissed the silken skin leading up to the edge of the towel and stopped when he'd reached the hem, switching to her other leg. He followed the same path of intimate kisses back down to her other ankle and murmured her name to rouse her from her entranced state of bliss.

"What do you want me to do, Karrin?" he asked.

She licked her lips and tugged against the cuffs on impulse, a frustrated sound escaping her throat. He stroked her calf gently to get her to settle. "Focus. What do you need?"

"Towel," Murphy panted out. "Take it off. Please."

He slid his hands up her legs to her hips and then grasped the folded end of the towel. Heart pounding against his sternum, Harry unwrapped it from around her body.

"Hell's _bells_ ," he croaked, his eyes sliding over her naked curves. "You're so goddamn beautiful, Karrin."

She shuddered again under his heated gaze. "Touch me, Harry. Please."

He swallowed hard and balanced over her on one hand, the other lowering towards her flawless skin. She arched into him as he laid his hand against her tight, flat stomach, just above the navel, sliding it up towards her breastbone. He stroked her skin lightly, admiring the rosy flush that followed his movements, and then skimmed his fingertips over her left nipple. She cried out and pushed her breast into his hand, and he hushed her, using his body weight to make her settle on the bed again. He teased the small pink bud with his thumb before lowering his lips to it, taking it inside his mouth. His tongue swept up and across the hardened peak, circling it, and then swirling outward. He slipped it in and out of his mouth in a steady rhythm, his other hand claiming her right breast. He kneaded it carefully and drank in the fevered gasps of delight that escaped her at every motion of his tongue, his fingers, his hand. He switched to her neglected breast and gave it the same passionate treatment until he felt her lifting her hips. He hissed as the heat of her brushed the front of his jeans and he caught her waist, pressing her down into the bed again.

"Easy, easy," he whispered. "We'll get there."

"More," she whimpered, her legs stirring restlessly on either side of him. "Please, Harry, more."

"Okay," he said, kissing the center of her throat. "Just breathe. I've got you."

The silver pentacle on his necklace grazed her skin as he crawled down her body one kiss at a time, leaving damp spots and faint whisker burns behind until he reached the apex of her thighs. Harry gripped the sheets underneath him in an attempt to maintain control as his gaze fell upon her sex. She was soaking wet and flushed, so much so that he had no doubt it was borderline painful. He swallowed thickly and rested his hands on her inner thighs, pushing them further apart and up towards her torso to give him room to move.

Harry slipped his thumb inside his mouth, wetting it, and ran it across her opening. Murphy jerked as if he'd shocked her with a thousand volts and a sharp cry left her lips. Harry winced, flicking his gaze up to see her face contorted with both pleasure and discomfort.

"Does it hurt?"

Murphy shook her head wildly, licking her swollen lips. "N-No, please, Harry. Keep going. More."

He narrowed his eyes at her slightly, his voice warming with anger. "Karrin."

"Don't care about the pain," she hissed. "God, please, Harry, please touch me."

He cursed under his breath and decided to forgo his first thought. He splayed his long fingers out over her thighs to keep them spread and lowered his mouth to her, sliding his tongue across her slit. Murphy cried out his name and arched up from the bed as a cresting wave of pleasure rocked her to the core. Harry's eyelids fluttered with pure masculine delight at that sound, and at the way she tasted. Bittersweet like dark chocolate. Exactly how he'd imagined.

He stomped down his overbearing impulses and licked his lips before giving her another experimental swipe. She shuddered and made a keening noise to encourage him to keep going, so he did. He traced her outer walls with careful precision and then swept inward in a slow, circling motion. He angled his mouth downward slightly until he discovered her opening and sunk his hot tongue inside her completely.

Murphy screamed.

Some dark part of Harry took over then. He growled in approval of her scream, and the vibrations shot straight to her spot, and she writhed underneath him frantically.

"God, Harry, don't stop," she panted out. "Don't stop, please, _don't stop_."

Harry sunk his tongue deeper, his lips parting to envelop her completely, squeezing her thighs. He lapped up the sweet nectar that spilled from her time and time again before delving in again, creating a cycle of pleasure that drove her nearly insane with delight. She rolled her hips up into his face, riding him as much as she could, and he slid his hands down her thighs to her ass, cupping it and picking her up off the bed. He drove his tongue into her in a slick, hard, quick rhythm until she convulsed and locked her knees down over his shoulders to keep him in the one spot she needed him most. He didn't hesitate, knowing she'd finally reached the edge, and tilted his mouth up just enough to envelop her clit.

Murphy climaxed.

Beautifully.

Harry caught a glimpse of her that he knew would stick with him until his dying day; Murphy's spine bowing, her pert breasts quivering from how hard she was gasping, her lips parted in a wordless howl of ecstasy, her lithe body quivering from head to toe as she reached her orgasm. As awful and as wrong as the entire situation was, some selfish part of him wanted this memory burned into his mind forever. The thought that he could make the woman who loved him, and who he loved dearly, feel this way touched him somewhere deep inside. The idea that he was good enough to ease her pain even for a moment damn near brought a lump to his throat.

Murphy collapsed to the wrinkled sheets a few moments later, her blonde hair wreathing her head and cascading into her eyes, hiding them from view as she floated down from her high. Harry licked his lips clean and gently stroked her sides as she eased into even breaths one minute at a time. Once she seemed stable, he leaned across her and brushed the hair out of her eyes.

"Still with me?"

She nodded. "How do you feel?"

"Mostly smug," she said, her voice hoarse from moaning. "Because I was right that you're really, _really_ good at oral sex."

Harry cleared his throat, knowing they were too close together for her not to see him blush. "Not what I meant, Murph."

"I don't know. Maybe we should go another round just to be safe."

Harry blushed harder. " _Murph_."

"You're adorable," she murmured, smiling as she lifted up enough to kiss him. "And I do feel a lot better. Really."

He eyed her. "Enough for me to let you out of these cuffs?"

"Well, that might be problematic considering I want to fuck you into next week."

Harry's head felt liable to burst into flames at any moment. "I'll take that as a no."

"I want you to leave the cuffs on," Murphy whispered, her lashes lowering over her eyes. "I'd be lying if I said I haven't had fantasies about you owning me."

Harry shuddered. "Karrin--"

"I've seen you cut loose before on the battlefield," she continued. "And I have to imagine that's it's pretty amazing if you let go for once in the bedroom."

"This is wrong," he said sharply. "You and I both know it. And it happened because of me. Because you were with me in that pit of fucking vipers and backstabbers. I shouldn't have taken you with me. God, Karrin, do you understand what the hell I'd do if anything ever happened to you?"

"No less than what I would do, Harry," she said with no heat in her voice. "And that's my point. Yes, this is the most fucked up thing that's ever happened to our relationship. But I'm glad it was you. I wanted it to be you."

His shoulders sagged. "Karrin, I'm not...I don't deserve you."

"Because I'm such a saint, right?"

He sighed. "I didn't mean it that way."

"I know how you meant it, Harry. You're an idiot. And I'm the idiot who loves you."

Harry shut his eyes as a tidal wave of emotions rolled through him at her words. "Karrin, I--"

"Shut up," she whispered, tilting her face up enough to brush her lips with his. "Shut up and show me, Harry. Show me everything. Show me how you feel about me."

She fixed him with her steely gaze. "And if you hold back even a little bit, I'll kick your ass."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part II on its way, assuming you guys don't burn me at the stake for writing this. I just have to live up to the heat of Harry's conclusion and it's more difficult than it sounds. @_@


	4. Murphy Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has been a long time coming. Pun fully intended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *line-dances her way into the Harry/Murphy trashpile*

_"She tastes like midnight_

_She tastes like wine_

_Gonna run my finger_

_Oh, down your spine_

_Just like a bad dream_

_Stay on my mind_

_Gonna spread you like butter_

_Gimme all my bread_

_Don't want no other girl in my bed..."_

_-"Bread and Butter" by Hugo_

 

If ever there was a moment in his life that felt like complete sensory overload, it was Harry Dresden staring down at a wanton, naked, handcuffed Karrin Murphy who had just given him permission to do whatever the hell he wanted to her.

For a moment, a tidal wave of utterly carnal thoughts swept over him; fantasies he'd had about her that he'd been none too proud to admit to himself. He'd had cold, lonely nights where his mind could think of nothing but her, the scent of her hair and the warmth of her smile and those rare instances where he'd been lucky enough to touch her hand, her cheek, hold her in his arms. He'd hidden it inside deeply enough that it was why his Id always prodded him about her. After all, it was dangerous to have those thoughts when there was almost no one he trusted as deeply as he did Karrin Murphy. He'd pretended the lust was just a byproduct of their relationship, but deep down he'd always known better.

He couldn't deny it any longer, not after what they'd just done. Karrin Murphy owned him, heart and soul, and it only made sense that he owned her as well.

Karrin's limpid eyes focused intently on his hands as he lowered them to his jeans. He undid the big button and slid the zipper down slowly enough to count as foreplay. She licked her slightly swollen lips as the heavy fabric parted and revealed the prominent bulge in his dark boxer-briefs. He took the jeans off and cast them over one side of the bed, his lids lowered over his eyes as he stared at her naked skin and tried to think what he'd wanted most of all from the woman he loved with all his heart.

"Tell me one of your fantasies about me, Karrin."

She dragged her gaze up from his pelvis to his face, reading the hunger there, and she nodded in both consent and understanding. Harry slid his hands up her calves to her thighs and began to gently massage them as she spoke.

"You come to my office at S.I. It's late. Everyone's already gone for the night, but I've been there all night trying to chase down a lead."

She smiled faintly. "You bring me coffee and a bear claw. We sit around and discuss the case, but we don't make a whole lot of progress."

Harry trailed his fingers down her inner thighs to her opening and began gently massaging her outer walls with his thumbs. Murphy exhaled wistfully and arched into his touch, trying not to whimper as he occasionally swiped over her clit. "I mention that I'd gotten an invite to Rich and Lisa's anniversary dinner and how much it pissed me off. You jokingly threaten him like always and tell me that I'll always have you after all is said and done and I'm not going to end up alone. I kiss your cheek and say thank you."

Harry kissed his way up from her navel, taking his time, his deep voice tickling across her damp skin. "And then?"

"I kiss you on the lips," she whispered. "You kiss me back. You're still sitting in the chair so I climb into your lap and we start making out. You unbutton my shirt and take off my bra."

She bit her lower lip as Harry's mouth surrounded her right breast, fighting to stay focused. "You kiss my neck and then my breasts, your hands on my waist, and I can feel how hard you are under your jeans."

Harry growled at her words. "Keep going."

"I take your shirt off and start kissing your neck, your chest, undoing the belt. I slide my hand inside your pants and feel your cock. I get down on my knees and start sucking your cock. You sound so damn sexy when you moan my name and your hand massages my neck, my scalp, as I deepthroat you."

Harry's eyes fluttered closed under the power of her voice. He'd gotten hard to the point of pain by now and yet he still wanted more of her sweet torture. He licked his lips and pressed his long frame down over her petite curves, listening to the moan it drew from her. Her hips automatically rolled up towards him, her lithe legs twisting around his waist, her toes curling as she felt the hot, hard length of him beneath one thin layer of cotton. She panted unevenly as he kissed her deeply for a moment and then dragged his lips over one side of her throat. She moaned as he began rocking into her one slow thrust at a time, the friction driving pleasure up through her body in steady waves.

"Don't stop," he whispered in her ear.

Murphy fought to remember her place in the fantasy. "You don't let me finish. You grab me and throw me on my desk and rip my pants and my underwear off. You go down on me, hard, fast, holding my legs open so I can't stop you from making me come. You make me come on your tongue first, then your fingers. Then you shove your jeans down and you fuck me on the desk. Hard. So hard it leaves bruises, but I love every second of it. I love the way you look while you're fucking me. All that pent up frustration and longing and you use all of it when you finally make me come again. Then you flip me over and fuck me from behind on the desk. You slide your hand into my hair and pull me back into you as you get close. You tell me how much you love it, how much you love fucking me, how good it feels inside me, how you've never wanted anyone as much as you've wanted me. You tell me to come for you. God, I'm so fucking wet and I love the way your cock feels inside me and I can't help it. I come. I come so goddamn hard on your cock, Harry. You want to pull out, but I tell you not to because I want to feel it. I want to feel you come. And when you finally do, it feels so amazing."

"Tell me, Karrin," Harry murmured, thrusting harder against her bucking hips. "Did you touch yourself when you had this fantasy?"

Murphy swallowed hard, her voice hoarse with need. "Yes."

"Did you moan my name when you came?"

"Yes."

Harry shivered and drew his cock from his boxer-briefs. "Perfect."

He slipped inside her at long last.

Murphy howled in pleasure.

Harry groaned wistfully as her tight inner muscles rolled over the sensitive head, the shaft of his cock, sinking into the velvet wetness of her completely until he had no more room to move. Heaven had nothing on this moment. Stars burst behind his eyelids. He'd never felt anything even close to this good in his entire life.

Murphy writhed underneath him and abruptly went still, gasping for air, her legs quaking on either side of him. He realized a second later what had happened. He'd made her come _on the first stroke_.

Harry pushed up on one hand, still reeling from the notion, concern in his eyes as he stared down at her. "Karrin, are you--"

She shook her head, her blue eyes glazed with pure elation and hunger and eagerness, her breath hot against his cheeks as she lifted up to kiss him. "Shut up and fuck me, Dresden."

Anticipatory shivers crawled right up his spine in a flash. He felt a wolfish grin forming over his lips as she kissed him with total abandon. "Yes ma'am."

Harry withdrew and slammed into her a second time. Karrin's body arched off the bed and she looped her legs around his thighs tightly, a perfectly adorable and undignified, "Oh, shit!" flying out of her mouth. Harry chuckled, planted his knees on the mattress, and settled into hard, swift, smooth strokes. He rode her hips, the arch of her back, falling in sync with her perfectly in mere seconds. The handcuffs rattled against the headboard as she jerked on them out of pure instinct and eventually wrapped her hands around the bars in an attempt to find purchase as he fucked her deeper and deeper with every passing minute. He couldn't get enough of her gasping moans, her soft wet skin, her slick cunt, and caught himself wishing he never had to stop what he was doing to her.

"Oh, fuck...Harry...mm...shit...don't stop..."

He groaned into her mouth, his eyes rolling back in his head. "God, Karrin, I can't...you're so close..."

She shook her head again, her voice pitching higher. "Don't stop, please, Harry, _don't stop_."

Something feral and primal tore inside him then. Harry gripped her knees and tore them from around his hips, pinning her legs to the bed. He slid closer between them and released the clutch on the last of his control, pounding into her so hard the entire bed smacked the wall under his frantic rhythm.

Murphy screamed his name as she came. It was the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.

Then he couldn't hear much of anything afterward as his own release dragged him down to the depths.

He woke up an indeterminate amount of time later, warm, exhausted, and utterly satisfied for possibly the first time in his entire life. It was a testament to Murphy's strength that she didn't seem to mind his gigantic, heavy frame lying on top of her for however long he'd been there. He redistributed the weight onto his forearms and lifted his face from where he'd buried it in her neck and golden hair, the rush of concern from earlier returning.

"You okay?" he croaked.

Murphy laughed hoarsely. "I just had the best fuck of my entire life. How do you think I am?"

He joined her in their gasping, borderline manic laughter and kissed her gently, knowing in his heart that everything was going to be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pokes head out of the trashpile* Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks Murphy probably has had fantasies of this nature about Harry. I still think Murphy would be the dominant partner in the bedroom, but I can't help but headcanon she has at least one fantasy related to Harry being in control.


End file.
